Suspect in custody after party store robbery

The sus­pects’ vehicle in the armed robbery at CJ’s Party Store. Photos Courtesy of Hillsdale Watch Facebook Group.

Police have a man in custody after two men allegedly robbed CJ’s Party store in Mosh­erville at 10:39 a.m. on Monday morning. Hillsdale Daily News reports the suspect is 27-year-old Peter Steve Adkins II of Jackson. The other suspect is still at large.

Employee Jeannie Macey had just fin­ished helping a lady at the counter when two men walked into the store.

“They came in with their hoodies pulled down over their heads. It covered most of their faces,” Macey said. “They kept saying, ‘It’s cold out there.’ I didn’t see the car, so I thought that they had just walked here — lots of people just walk in. They milled around in the back of the store around the ice cream machine. Then they stuck a gun in my face and told me to hand over all of the money.”

Macey said she guessed they took around $250 along with a couple packs of cig­a­rettes and some other mer­chandise that she didn’t see. She has worked at CJ’s for the last 12 years and nothing like this has ever hap­pened before.

“I was pretty shaken up,” Macey said. “They were pretty stupid to do it in broad day­light. There’s a camera in plain sight right above my head.”

Yet Hillsdale Daily News reports that when Hillsdale County Circuit Judge Michael R. Smith set Adkins bond at $500,000 with 10 percent allowed, Adkins was con­fused by the severity. Smith explained to the alleged gunman that he is accused of com­mitting a life offense.

“With what proof though?” Adkins asked.

Detective Gochenauer of Michigan State Police Jackson Post is heading up the inves­ti­gation.